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Michelin Guides forgets to renew domain name, becomes "Michel in Guides"

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Re: Michelin Guides forgets to renew domain name, becomes "Michel in Guides"

#11

Post by laurencei »

nathanstitt wrote: post #6
milliams wrote: post #3

I believe companies usually claim back 'stolen' domains with trademark claims. I wonder if the his claim that it's "Michel in Guides" will do anything to hold this claim at bay.

Not always, and not quickly. See http://nissan.com/ for an example that's been dragging on for around 10 years or so. He's not squatting on nissan.com per se, but in my opinion is fairly close to it. It's a David vs. Goliath situation that's for sure, I'm amazed he's managed to keep the domain.

Why do you think he is "close" to squatting? He registered a 'nissan' company in 1991, and registered the domain in 1994.

Just because a 'big' company missed out - its not his fault.

Re: Michelin Guides forgets to renew domain name, becomes "Michel in Guides"

#12

Post by UnoriginalGuy »

nathanstitt wrote: post #6
milliams wrote: post #3

I believe companies usually claim back 'stolen' domains with trademark claims. I wonder if the his claim that it's "Michel in Guides" will do anything to hold this claim at bay.

Not always, and not quickly. See http://nissan.com/ for an example that's been dragging on for around 10 years or so. He's not squatting on nissan.com per se, but in my opinion is fairly close to it. It's a David vs. Goliath situation that's for sure, I'm amazed he's managed to keep the domain.

> He's not squatting on nissan.com per se, but in my opinion is fairly close to it

That doesn't make sense.

Sounds like you, and several other people, think that anyone who is under-utilising a domain is automatically "squatting." That the biggest user of a property is entitled to it...

He runs a business, the business is called "Nissan Computer(s)." That to me is the furthest thing from squatting...

Re: Michelin Guides forgets to renew domain name, becomes "Michel in Guides"

#13

Post by robin_reala »

nathanstitt wrote: post #6
milliams wrote: post #3

I believe companies usually claim back 'stolen' domains with trademark claims. I wonder if the his claim that it's "Michel in Guides" will do anything to hold this claim at bay.

Not always, and not quickly. See http://nissan.com/ for an example that's been dragging on for around 10 years or so. He's not squatting on nissan.com per se, but in my opinion is fairly close to it. It's a David vs. Goliath situation that's for sure, I'm amazed he's managed to keep the domain.

Nissan are a domain name oddity. They also own z.com but don’t point it at a web server.

   $ whois z.com
   Domain Name: Z.COM
   Name Server: NVS001.NISSAN.NE.JP
   Name Server: NVS002.NISSAN.NE.JP
   Name Server: SJ000030.NISSAN.CO.JP

Re: Michelin Guides forgets to renew domain name, becomes "Michel in Guides"

#14

Post by ErikAugust »

A company I used to work for had many clients (over 6000) and many would forget to re-register their domains. About one or two out of these clients a year would have the misfortune of a squatter swooping in and trying to extort them.

One client even had the misfortune of their domain redirected to a porn site when cash demands weren't met.

Re: Michelin Guides forgets to renew domain name, becomes "Michel in Guides"

#15

Post by owksley »

milliams wrote: post #3

I believe companies usually claim back 'stolen' domains with trademark claims. I wonder if the his claim that it's "Michel in Guides" will do anything to hold this claim at bay.

It must be hard to make the case that the domain was stolen, since they simply allowed it return to the market place where it was legally bought by somebody else.

In the UK a trademark is only valid for a nominated category, so two different companies can legitimately have the same trademark if used for different purposes, but I don't know how the rules works in France.

Re: Michelin Guides forgets to renew domain name, becomes "Michel in Guides"

#16

Post by Kenan »

petercooper wrote: post #2

I got my full name in .co.uk from a similar mishap (there's a large car dealership in the UK called Peter Cooper, curiously). Bizarrely they never came after me or even got in touch and bought a new domain instead, though it'd have been a harder case to fight given it's my actual name.

Reminds me of the case over http://nissan.com/

Re: Michelin Guides forgets to renew domain name, becomes "Michel in Guides"

#17

Post by ajross »

oellegaard wrote: post #8

They made a stupid mistake, they should not be allowed to get it back.

That's maybe going too far. Clearly this is a prank. The current owner has the right (abstractly -- honestly I have no idea how this works in French law) to express their opinion as parody, and Michelin shouldn't be able to use the trademark as a cudgel to suppress that.

That said, the proper remedy here is for them to buy back the domain name at a fair market price (whatever that may be, again I have no idea). The owner shouldn't be able to "ransom" the name for an unfair price, either.

Re: Michelin Guides forgets to renew domain name, becomes "Michel in Guides"

#18

Post by UnoriginalGuy »

eli wrote: post #5
milliams wrote: post #3

I believe companies usually claim back 'stolen' domains with trademark claims. I wonder if the his claim that it's "Michel in Guides" will do anything to hold this claim at bay.

Yup, WIPO has a arbitration system that should theoretically allow them to get their domain back.

It isn't really "their" domain. They not only failed to renew it, but they also failed to contest it when it was in suspended status.

They have at least 14 days to save "their" domain and then it entered the general pool and became someone else's domain entirely.

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